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Sunday, February 15, 2009

Hooked Rug cleaning

Those of you that read my blog know that I love old things. My favorite, although infrequent pastime is to attend country antique auctions. I went to one last night and procured three old and very dirty hooked rugs for twenty dollars. I have read about cleaning hooked rugs on the internet, and thought I would try some of the things I have heard to see if they worked. These rugs are on burlap and are worn on the edges, but I believe they still have life in them, even if they spend the rest of their days on a trunk or table. They are all made with wool strips. Because of their age and the burlap backing I do not want to get them wet or agitate them at all as I fear they will fall apart. As usual I will confess that I do not know what I am doing! I like to experiment and try things that I have read. I took a couple of "before" shots of the rugs. You can see that the front of the rug above has faded quite a bit compared to the rolled part that shows the colors on the back. I also obtained two braided mats in the same auction lot.I began cleaning by using the brush attachment on my vacuum and very slowly and gently went over both sides of the rugs to remove basic dust and dirt. I carefully rolled the rugs as I went so it would open up the loops and clean out the accumulated dirt. It was very obvious that the owner of these rugs had a white cat!

I took the largest rug outside to the snow. I buried it in light, granular snow, gently rubbed it around with my glove and then shook off the snow. I did this numerous times on both sides. The snow became quite dirty, so it was helping remove the years of grunge! Since the rug stayed fairly dry I didn't have to worry about the dye colors running into each other. This was very good physical exercise!

I have also heard about using suds to clean rugs. I laid the tulip rug in my bathtub, and made numerous suds with my dish detergent. I attempted thick suds with my clothes detergent but apparently it is a "low sudsing" formula. The soap I used did not contain bleach, as bleach will disintigrate wool. I glopped suds all over the rug and gently rubbed them around using a damp sponge, being careful not to rub hard. The suds became brown, but that left me with a sudsy rug and no way to wash off the suds without getting the rug wet! So I threw it outside in the snow! After a bit of gently dragging it around on the snow the suds were all gone! The suds method got the rugs a bit more damp than just snow, but again I was lucky and the suds removed a lot of dirt. I rolled the rugs in towels to remove as much moisture as I could. I laid the rugs flat on my car to dry, as we have a balmy 38 degrees today in the sun, and I didn't have another warm flat surface for them to dry. Tonight I will leave the rugs in the barn on a flat surface and they will freeze, which hopefully will take care of any moth eggs that might be lurking.

The braided mats are made of a knit and one has some sort of shiny material...perhaps even silk? I was merciless with them and soaked them both in the tub in cold water and the same dish detergent. I gently moved them around and the water turned dark brown. Uh oh...are the colors running? After rinsing them until the water was clear and rolling them in towels I could see that the colors were fine. They were just filthy.

My experiment worked because none of the rugs are in worse shape than when I got them. The snow is certainly the most gentle, and although it did remove dirt and dust I would not say the rug is any brighter. The suds method was more damaging to the rug as some of the threads on the edges of the loops show more wear, but perhaps the dirt was just holding them together! The suds certainly got the rugs cleaner and brightened the colors, especially the pale yellows on the tulip rug. I did gently steam the edges of the rugs to remove the slight curl that I had created. I didn't apply any pressure with my iron...just steam. The loops are not matted anymore and if rugs could talk, they would be saying "Thank you for caring".

I believe all three hooked rugs were made by the same maker, as they are bound in an identical way with similar stitching. The gray wool on the tulip rug and the big floral rug match, as well as some of the greens in all three rugs. After cleaning I was able to tell that the background on the tulip rug is actually made of two different colors...one color is hooked closer to the flowers. Perhaps the maker was using scraps from discarded clothing. All the rugs look and smell much better than when I began.

Of course my better half has no idea that this sort of experiment is important and energizing to me. He just looks at me crawling on the floor vacuuming rugs with a brush, and covering rugs with snow, and making a bucket of suds with an eggbeater and thinks I'm insane. There are now big dirty splotches in the snow, wet towels on the bathroom floor and my car has rugs all over it. Why would he think I was crazy?

Cleaning these rugs has taken about six hours total, but I am glad that I did it. The profile picture today shows my cat Rascal claiming a rug as her own. I will leave you with a few pictures of some of the other things that I picked up at the auction. I particularly like the box as I have a fondness for boxes, especially if they have something to do with fabric.

I love the "twelve swarms of bees" for sale at this auction. The notice is dated March of 1851 taking place in Richmond outside of Denison's Corners. Anyone know where that is? Perhaps New York or Vermont?

Wow what fabulous finds you made! Love the idea of cleaning them in the snow, I read about that a while ago and wondered how it would work, seems to work very well judging by your pictures. My grandmother used to hang her white tablecloths on the washing line when it was frosty, thats supposed to make them whiter, a similar kind of thing to washing in the snow.Rosie

Lauri,I just put the first rug that I hooked in my front loader....am taking before and after pictures. This was fun to see your pictures and that you were able to try out the different techniques. I use a lot of my rugs on the floor, so I decided to get brave today and try the machine.

For cleaning that rug, I think that you can use steam for it, if you don't want to soak them with water. Steam cleaning uses the evaporated water to heat up the fabric and separate the dirt to the rug. Whenever I had a problem on stained rugs in my house at Clearwater, carpet cleaning with the use of steam is the easiest and eco-friendly way on removing the stains.

One time, I've recommended the Tampa carpet cleaners to my male friend due to the food stains that accumulated on his area rug which is disturbing to look at.

Saving old rugs is a good move. Lots of the classics now are preserved because of those people who were concerned of saving it. It’s just a matter of careful carpet cleaning. Boulder’s handed-down markets still have used carpets and you can still find one, like what you’ve found. I have a knack on buying classic items, and half of my house decorations are full of those. I buy even those in the worst condition; I just clean and restore them. Thanks for the post!

There is a Denison's Corners cemetery in Richmond, NY. Thanks for this interesting post. I have a really grungy old hooked rug with holes in it. For five bucks (also at an auction) I figured it was worth a try. I would like to fix it up and give it a second life.

As a lover of antique and pre-loved items, I admire you for looking for ways to preserve those lovely carpets. Rubbing them with snow was just pure genius. If only we can find more ways to clean carpets even when it is not snowing, then I bet those tips would be worth publishing.

If none of these region rugs is right for you, you may would like to take a appear at woven rugs. You are able to discover these rugs in solid colors, cheery striped patterns, or in bold geometric styles. They look proper at property in family members rooms, children’s bedrooms, or kitchens.

Giving Thanks all year...

I am thankful for health, for friendships, for God, for my better half, for enough money to pay the bills, for a comfortable home, for honesty, for my computer friendships, for our ever loyal pets, for a decent job, for a car that runs, for sheep, for the ability to create with my hands, a good nights sleep, for "good hair" days, for plenty of food on our table, for my Dad who I dearly miss, for my stepmother who loved him so much, and for books and the ability to read. I'm also thankful for warm clothes on cold days, for warm soil, for the ocean, for rainbows, for electricity, for wood for our woodstove, for flowers, for dropping gas prices, for free things, and for weekends, for being an American, for coffee fixed my way, for time to craft, for nights at home, for a closet full of clothes, for scented candles, for being appreciated at work, for birds and for my intelligence. I'm thankful for photographs, for the ability to write, for the power company that works in all weather, and for the ability to take a walk on a beautiful day. I'm thankful for the music in my life, and for living in the country where I see trees and deer and nature outside of every window. I'm thankful for hook-ins and Rug Art shows and the ability to travel to visit them. I'm thankful for handknit socks that keep my feet warm and for days when I don't have to go to work.